What is the purpose of a plate? Hold food. I looked it up in the dictionary, “A round or oval dish used to hold food. A plate is a broad, mainly flat vessel on which food can be served. A plate can also be used for ceremonial or decorative purposes.”
We have many kinds of plates—salad plates, dinner plates, dessert plates, paper plates, plastic plates, and China plates. Although they are different, they all have the same purpose. It’s funny because we are the ones who treat them differently.
Some we only pull out on special occasions. Some we grab when we are tired and don’t want to wash dishes later. We grab the prettiest paper plates when we want to entertain but don’t want to clean later. When we think we need to lose weight we use smaller plates because that causes us to eat less- ok! Have you ever noticed the size paper plates get when it’s Thanksgiving? So crazy.
If you will allow me for a minute to be creative- I would like us to imagine the plates in the photo above are like us.
See from the front the all look good but up close you can see they have stories. Even the one that looks perfect has held onto some things. Sometimes scars don’t show- wounds leave issues on the inside and not where they are visible.
There is one that has been broken- but I was able to put the pieces back together. From the front, it looks pretty good, but when you get up close and hear the stories of this plate- you see how God moved to help them glue the pieces together. The more it was broken- the more God was able to move.
It’s not in the breaking but in the putting back together. No matter how much I wiggled and glued it wouldn’t go back the same way. That’s like us once we have been broken we heal differently. Sometimes we heal stronger. Smarter. Wiser. It’s not about the breaking but what we do with it- do we hold a grudge keep it to ourselves? I can imagine we have all walked a lot of life. Now it would be easy for me to keep my broken parts to myself but when I share how God has used them- it allows him to use me.
I don’t think God causes bad things to happen to people- he watches us a guides us and allows us to grow thru them. He also challenges us to use them for Him. So many times I have rubbed elbows with people struggling with things I struggled. I was able to comfort, encourage and pray for them in ways others could not. I also found that I healed a little more each time I did this.
Maybe some of us- like this plate have physical stains and paint you can see it has a story. I think the hard part is that the scars are visible. Sometimes people have walked thru things but they don’t want to share. They hate that they look different because of what they have walked thru. They are trying to deal with things themselves and aren’t happy that others can see their journey- It’s not our business to ask them about them. Which is tough on both sides. Sometimes our good intentions cause more hurt that we can imagine. We need to be sensitive- seek Gods voice in how we handle things- my hubby always says don’t ask the wrong question- you might not like the answer you get and how you have to deal with it.
One of the plates look brand new, one has been dropped and glued back together again and the other has stains and paint on it.
They all can still do their job. Their purpose of holding something can still be fulfilled. They still hold the same value even if they have some cracks and stains.
When Jesus looks at us- he doesn’t see our flaws. He only sees how much value and worth we have.
Oh that we could look at ourselves like Song of Solomon says in chapter 4:7 “You are altogether beautiful, my love, there is no flaw in you.”
Self worth is a hard balance. Self-worth is the internal sense of being good enough and worthy of love and belonging from others. Interesting because we can’t make people love us and should our basis of our value come from that- really? The world wants us to see our value in ourselves but as Christians we see our value according to God.
The Bible speaks volumes about our worth, highlighting that we are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27, Psalm 139:14). It assures us of our value and significance in God’s eyes, emphasizing our unique purpose and the love He has for each of us.
Matthew 10:29-31 tells us that we are more valuable than sparrows- God has never lost one of those, He even knows the number of hairs on our head. I love my kids very much but never had the time to count their hairs.
A great example of this is the woman at the well. If you don’t know the story- Jesus finds a Samaritan woman at a well. Normally Jews and Samaritans don’t speak to one another. She was alone- she didn’t come to the well at the normal time- because of her lifestyle.
Not only did He see her- He spoke to her. Which catches her off guard.
He asks her for water. She looks at him like he has lost his mind. Reminds him they normally don’t speak to one another. He tells her He can provide living water that will never make her thirsty again. She is excited about that- she doesn’t want to come to the well and be seen by others.
Jesus sees the woman at the well with value. He gives her more than she is willing to give herself.
He sees her-
He speaks to her-
He calls her to do better-
She comes to the well ashamed. Lonely. Feeling worthless. Has an encounter with Jesus and leaves so full and changed she leaves her water bucket behind. She leaves excited and ready to tell others about the encounter. She was hiding before and now she is seeking people out.
Because of this woman, many came to know God and were saved.
This is what happens when we realize our worth is not in who we are but WHOOSE we are.
Being ok with who you are is tougher at times than you think.
When I look at my own life, I can come up with 3 scenarios where I have struggled with self-worth.
Meeting new people- How can you have self worth when meeting new people? It’s not like you can share how awesome you are in 20 words of less.
Meeting new people and not advertising my skills- it’s hard to do. Like they don’t know how awesome I am. I would meet people and think – I could do what they are doing …but they don’t know that.
It would be easy to shrink back and let the enemy speak over me in these moments. However I think God wants me to humbly come- read the room and see how He wants me to behave. After all my gifts aren’t mine alone- they come from Him and I should be ready to use them for Him.
I really struggle with this. My husband takes great pride in announcing he is a Deputy. When people ask me what I am I often say I am I don’t work. Which is only partly true. I am a homemaker and I know that is extremely important- I don’t take that for granted. I am super grateful that I have been able to homeschool all 4 of my kids and spend most of their days with them- the memories are over the top.
I am a Pastor but that’s a super quick way to end a convo that hasn’t really started…plus the next question is usually what church and I am currently an online Pastor that is 2 hours away from my house. So it’s not like I am inviting many people to church.
Ephesians 2:10 says we are Gods workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
AGE- getting old is not for the faint of heart- It’s hard to find value in yourself when you can’t do things like you used to. Getting old and feeling worn down not looking the same really plays a toll on your self-worth.
I used to live off a steady diet of Mt Dew and candy bars, I never got much sleep and I just skirted around from task to task making sure it was done. Rest- what was that? Exercise nah who needs it?
It is hard to have self worth when your body changes. When your hair turns gray- when things hang lower than they used to. It’s easy to be discouraged and feel worthless. Personally I find myself looking at this crazy phone sometimes more than reality- then when I catch my appearance I am disappointed.
I don’t know if I can share wisdom here – God is still working on me here. It’s a daily battle…I know I can’t be the only one who deals with this.
Genesis 1:27 says so “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” When we look at our selves we are looking at the image of God…when we speak poorly of ourselves we are saying them about God.
FOMO- fear of missing out
I can be at home and see people posting photos at the beach and wish I was there. Then I can be at the beach and see people posting photos on a cruise and wish I was there. It’s easy to wish away the moment.
Don’t get me wrong I see the blessings in my life. I just really struggle sometimes because society. I think social media has made us be more in the know of what’s happening. I think we can do this in a few ways- we can focus on the good ole days and miss the ones we are having but also look forward to when we are married, have kids, graduate etc and miss the current ones as well.
I have spent every day trying to instill my kids with how blessed they are. My email is sixblessedbutlers because I know how blessed we are. Just look around and you can see blessings. These are just worldly blessings…when we take into account how blessed we are because of God it’s amazing and overwhelming at the same time. We don’t deserve His love His grace His comfort His strength it goes on and on.
At the same time if we can see how blessed we are are- why wouldn’t we share it? Why would we keep it to ourselves?
Challenge- looking back to woman at the well. Jesus sees us come to the well and he wants to fill us with the living water. When you are full of that you see others before you see yourself. The woman at the well…we have an entire story about her yet don’t know her name. She used her experience for God. She came to the well in the time when most people wouldn’t be there she avoided people because of their comments- I can imagine how she must have been treated. Yet when she experienced God she went to those same people to share what she had seen and many were saved. She used her brokenness for God. We can do the same and the impact- only God can see.
Jesus waits at the well for us all.
He knows everything about you, but still He pursues you.
Jesus is enough.
You are loved.
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